Plot: Action/zombie plot shambles/stumbles.

Summary: Anybody that grew up in the '80s or early '90s is pretty familiar with the standard Schwarzenegger/Stallone action movie structure. A bad-ass killing machine comes out of retirement / hiding when the ghosts of his past return and threaten to undo his fragile post-bad-ass killing machine life of peace. The government / shadowy organization created / did something that they thought they could use as a weapon and/or control and…they can’t. The bad-ass killing machine (from here on in referred to as B-A-KM) is the only one who has the know-how /skills / guts to stop the rogue cyborg / government spook / alien possessing the body of a hot chick / former special ops (of which B-A-KM was once part of) / mutant crocodile / best friend gone evil. Other elements in these action movies include treachery from within the sponsoring organization, pure innocence (usually in the form of a child) threatened, a grizzled old colonel / general / federal agent who was B-A-KM’s mentor, a friend still on the inside (who usually brings B-A-KM in for the assignment and 50% of the time is the traitor), helicopters, everybody calling each other by their last names and lots of things crashes and explosions. There is usually a former girlfriend / ex-wife / sexy data analyst / hottie bystander that gets sucked into the plot for rescuing motivation / kidnapped child care (till B-A-KM comes) / fighting back with spunk / sexual conquest also. The hero rampages without much reflection, the bad guys meet well deserved demises and everything is swell till the sequel. Movies like this filled the theater with bullets, testosterone, and big budget destruction. It’s a fine tradition and structure built for the summer, popcorn and teen boy power fantasies. ZMD #2 has every one of these elements.

This could be a good or bad thing depending on how fondly you look upon those old memories of escapism. A lot also rides on execution, tone, and how clever the writing is at finding nooks of fun/original thoughts in the formula. ZMD # 2 loses some ground from issue #1 in those areas.

The upsetting/discouraging thing is that most of the exposition here was covered last issue, and a lot more fun/effectively. A new character, Drake (B-A-KM), wakes from a flashback commonly used to establish a B-A-KM’s background. The dream takes place in Kuwait, 1990 and whereas most people’s dreams include nonsense like Mom standing on a duck making pot pies or Sarah Palin in a latex mini-dress (or is that just me?) these type of dreams are a play by play recall of a pivotal / traumatic moment in B-A-KM’s life. This is fine and the rhythm is so programmed into our viewing experience that it’s no surprise that moments after Drake wakes up from the flashback the (in this case) government shows up at his door (B-A-KM eye patch guy with classic name Krane). I don’t mind this. It’s expected and upholds the economy of style that is such an integral part of B-A-KM stories. The next sequence, where Drake signs up for the mission (for his own reasons, not because the damn government created a mess they can’t clean up on their own), I have problems with. Like I said, the exposition covered here was all shown last issue and recounting it through a briefing for B-A-KM virtually kills the freight train / breakneck / rollercoaster /other review hyperbole momentum that ZMD had up till this point. No sooner does Drake walk out of the room than old friend still inside calls treacherous government guy to talk about B-A-KM. Sometimes I wish, in such scenes, B-A-KM would walk back in having forgotten his jacket / pen / low-tech weapon that saves his ass later in the story and hears the words, “by the time he finds out it’ll be too late,” and just unleashes B-A-KM fury on everyone around. I guess B-A-KM doesn’t watch such movies, they just live ‘em. The issue ends with Zombie Zero joining a kid’s soccer game in the home town of Drake’s dead / probably still alive wife. Explosions and helicopters to follow.

Final Word: This issue is a step back from the exciting potential on display in issue #1. What I thought was to be a blustery chase story with a winking subtext is morphing into a formula action piece. Grevioux seems like a smart writer and he’s got a dynamite idea so I hope we’re looking at a set-up / knock down cliché situation. The scales tip with the amount of clichés here but hopefully Grevioux has some twists down the road to balance it out.

Still, formula is fun if executed right. Once B-A-KM Drake gets after Zombie Aero the fun juice should start flowing again. At the moment though the jury is out on whether ZMD is the kinky / goofball fun of Commando or the tired / by the numbers exercise of Red Heat.

"Who is Crazy Mary?"

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